Eish, if Naas Botha was in the studio after that Bok Ireland game, all hell would have broken loose.
Forget the incredible drama and fantastic finish, Naas would have killed the guys because they had total scrum dominance, played against a man less for 10 minutes, were up by five points with 10 minutes to go and had the ball virtually on their opponents’ line two minutes from time.
If that’s not being in an incredibly good position, I am not sure what is.
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I mean losing this game was like the Proteas not being able to score 30 runs in 30 balls with six wickets in hand.
Somehow it seems some big fellow up there has been against SA the last couple of weeks.
It also seems that someone was hitting back for the three consecutive one-point victories from that World Cup in France with this irritating one-pointer at King’s Park.
So surreal and so incredibly frustrating.
One Irishman said that the last-second loss was punishment for Bok supporters poking fun at their Zombie song.
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According to the guy, the song was written in memory of two kids who were innocent victims of an IRA bombing.
I respect that but they were singing the song rather boisterously after that victory against the Boks during the World Cup.
So, poor Rassie has to prove himself all over again and now against the All Blacks.
Looking at the way they played against England, it seems SA may get the better of them but, then again, England did beat Ireland in the Six Nations.
All very confusing but I do think Australian legend David Campese summed it up nicely.
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He said many teams were jealous of the Boks’ total dominance in the scrums and this is why they were complaining and saying this was not attractive and time-wasting rugby.
He said if any other team had a scrum like this, they would do the exact same thing. I tend to agree.
Out of sorts Novak
True to expectations, Novak Djokovic was not up to Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon on Sunday.
It was a torrid affair with Djokovic not offering any resistance.
I know the English commentator, I think it was Tim Henman, who said it was the changing of the guard. I think this was an over-exaggeration.
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For me Djokovic was not moving well and made “ridiculously” bad choices on the day, like charging the net when he literally stood very low chances of winning those points.
This was absurd because Djokovic is known to have the best tennis mind in tennis history.
I can only assume he was doing this to shorten the points because that knee, which had surgery like a month ago, was hurting.
Also, Novak seemed to attack his forehand. Why? Everybody knows Novak broke down Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal by sitting on their weaker backhands.
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Here he only targeted the backhand in the third set.
Remember, Djokovic beat Alcaraz on both occasions they met this year — and the first easily in straight sets.
So, the result for me is nothing but the result of Novak’s weak knee.
My only concern is that he may have hurt himself and may not recover in time for the Olympics in a few weeks — a title that has eluded him and which will allow him to equal Nadal and Andre Agassi’s achievement of the rare Golden Slam (all four Grand Slams plus Olympic gold).
Yamal impresses at Euro 24
I wrote a few months ago that a new superstar was emerging in Spain and 17-year-old Lamine Yamal did not disappoint at Euro 24. His is a real interesting story. His family mix is Equatorial Guinean (mum) and Moroccan.
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His dad was a building painter and his mum a waitress and they lived in one of the poorest areas in Barcelona before being scouted by Barca at six years of age.
He was then taken care of by the club and became the apple of Xavi’s eye.
So at 15 years and nine months, he debuted for La Masia. And the rest is history.
He won La Liga with Barca in 2022-23 and debuted for the Spanish team in September 2023, at the age of 16 years and 50 days.
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In October, Lamine extended his contract with Barcelona until 2026, with a buyout clause of €1 billion. It’s an amazing rags to riches story with Lamal scoring that wonder goal against France and setting Nico Williams up in the final.
The boy, who was voted Young Player of Euro 24, is being touted as the next Messi.
He’s great but I do think that’s taking things a bit too far.
New Jamaican suddenly emerges before Olympics 100m
With the Olympics in a few weeks, a new favourite has emerged for the flagship event — the mens’ 100m.
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And it’s another Jamaican — Kishane Thompson.
The 23-year old athlete ran a best of 9,77 in recent Olympic trials but interestingly also ran a 9,84 in the heats and a 9,82 in the semis.
Betting on him is 5/4. This is a bit of a slap in the face for the Americans who haven’t won this event since 2004.
Thompson’s closest contenders are Americans Christian Coleman at 2/1 and Noah Lyles at 9/4.
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Another Jamaican Oblique Seville is at 8/1, followed by 21-year old Botswanan Letsile Tebogo (who holds the world 300m record at 12/1. Local favourite Akani Simbine who has run a 9,84 fetches a price of 25/1. Not a bad bet, that.
Silence golden from Betway
Finally, still no word from Betway after that debacle with them last week where it seemed they deliberately duplicated my July Handicap bets.
They responded saying that it seemed to be a mistake and that they would investigate.
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Ten days have come and gone and nothing from them. I have written to them three times now — and their silence is worrying. Let’s wait and see.
